


Safety Dance

by just_nat



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Dancing, Fluff, Gen, i just think they should be friends!!, this is literally just fluff no sad things here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:27:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24835366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_nat/pseuds/just_nat
Summary: One of Marius’s favorite memories of Nastya began with the first time he had added the title of baron to his name.Marius & Nastya dance and have a fun time bc they deserve it
Relationships: Marius von Raum & Nastya Rasputina
Comments: 16
Kudos: 104
Collections: Stowaways' Shenanigans





	Safety Dance

**Author's Note:**

> yes the title IS from the safety dance by men without hats what about it

Marius didn't usually spend a lot of time with Nastya. Despite both of them playing the violin, he hadn’t been able to find a good time to really talk with her outside of practice. Besides that, he didn’t even know how to approach talking to Nastya. It was rare to see her outside of the engine room and only Jonny seemed to be able to find her if she didn’t make her presence known. Regardless, there were a few moments with Nastya that Marius held close to his heart. 

One of Marius’s favorite memories of Nastya began with the first time he had added the title of baron to his name. Marius had taken advantage of the full crew being gathered for breakfast and swept into a dramatic bow in the doorway, announcing that ‘Doctor Baron Marius Von Raum!’ had arrived. 

Nastya had let out a loud, full bodied laugh that shook her thin frame. She leaned forward with a smirk on her lips that Marius just knew meant trouble for him but he couldn't resist taking the bait all the same. 

"What are you laughing about? I'll have you know I'm a very respected Baron where I come from!" Marius laughs with mock offense filling his voice, and a grin curling at the edges of his mouth. 

Nastya's own smile widens and she abruptly stands up and holds out a hand for Marius. "Well then  _ baron _ , I'm sure you wouldn't mind giving me this dance? After all, it's one any self respecting royal should know." 

There's a challenge in her voice and Marius knows he's gonna lose. He remembers Ashes telling him once that Nastya was a princess on her home planet, had filed it away with the other facts he had learned about Nastya during his time with the mechanisms. Of all the crew, he knew the least about her. His mental file of Nastya consisted of lesbian, dating the ship and an (ex?) princess. 

If Ashes was telling the truth, Marius is about to lose horribly. Of course, the rest of the crew have already pulled out their instruments and started playing an upbeat tune,  and Marius has never been one to turn down a challenge  _ or  _ a dance, so he takes Nastya’s hand and lets her pull him into a surprisingly fast paced ballroom dance. 

It's abundantly clear that Nastya is a better dancer than him, helped by the fact that she actually knows the steps to whatever dance this is. Even so, both of them are laughing as Marius trips over his own feet as he tries his best to keep up. 

When the first dance comes to an end, Marius holds out his own hand in invitation to Nastya before she can sit down again. 

“May I have this dance?” he asks, slightly out of breath but still smiling wide enough to split his face in two. 

Without missing a beat, Nastya takes his hand and Marius cheers. After that, it's a whirlwind of music and laughter as eventually the rest of the crew join in the dancing as well. 

* * *

For a while, that's it. Nastya disappears back into the depths of the Aurora, and Marius tries to focus on learning his part in the new album. 

One night, a few weeks after the dance, Marius is startled awake by a knock at the door to his room. He groggily rolls out of bed, stumbling towards the door as the knock comes again. Marius can’t imagine why anybody would be bothering him considering how early it is, but he flings the door open anyways to an uncharacteristically nervous looking Nastya. 

Out of everyone that could’ve been at his door, Nastya was the last person he would’ve guessed and seeing her throws Marius badly enough that he forgets whatever cool one liner he was about to come up with. 

He means to ask her what she’s doing here, but only manages “what-” before Nastya cuts him off. 

“Come with me. I want to teach you something.” and without waiting for him to agree, turns and starts walking back down the hallway. 

Bemused, Marius steps out of the doorway and begins to follow Nastya through the ship's twisting halls. In what feels like a shorter amount of time then usual, they arrive at the mess hall, though the table has been pushed against the wall with the chairs stacked beside it. In the center of the room, Nastya stands with her hand held out in clear invitation. 

Marius takes it, despite being incredibly confused as to what was going on. He may not completely understand where Nastya was going with this, but he understood that whatever this was, it was important to her. 

Nastya begins to lead him into the same dance as the one from a few weeks prior, taking it at a slower pace this time so Marius could start to learn the steps. As they dance, Marius bites his tongue against the flood of nervous chatter that threatens to break the silence between them. He hates the silence normally, fills it up with meaningless conversation or his violin but even he can tell when to let it be. 

A minute passes before Nastya finally speaks. “I was taught a lot of dances as a child, but my dancing master always told me that this one in particular, would be one of the most important things I ever learned in my life."

Marius can’t help but let out a snort as Nastya twirls him, and her lips twitch in amusement. 

"I doubt he ever imagined the life of a space pirate for me. Still," she hesitated for a moment, and Marius let the silence hang between them. 

He'd had a joke planned, but he could tell this was important to Nastya and he didn’t want to risk messing it up.

Finally, Nastya looks up at Marius. “It’s nice to be able to share this with someone. Most of the others have no use for formal dancing, and there's only so many times I can dance with the Toy Soldier.” 

Marius offers a small smile.“I can’t promise I’ll be any good at dancing-” he promptly slips and nearly falls to the floor, catching himself on Nastya’s arm. In his rush to follow Nastya he’d neglected to put boots on, and the metal floor was slippery. “-thanks. I hope I’m at least a better conversational partner than the Toy Soldier?” 

The dance comes to an end, and Nastya takes a step back as Marius regains his balance and releases his hold on her arm. She stares at him for a moment, a half smile on her face, and for a second seems to be deliberating between killing him or hugging him. If he gets a choice Marius  _ would  _ prefer a hug, but being killed by Nastya almost seemed like an accomplishment. If nothing else, it would be proof that they’d had some sort of bonding moment. 

In the end, she seems to decide on neither, letting out an amused sigh before turning and walking away. Marius watches her go with what he knows must be the sappiest grin on his face, but he can’t help it. Nastya liked him! She taught him a dance from her past, which definitely counted as a bonding moment. 

He’d been nervous that their dance session would be a one-time occasion, that Nastya just wouldn’t be interested in sharing any kind of interest with him. But now, now Marius was pretty sure Nastya was friends with him, which meant they could be immortal space royal violinists together, even if  _ technically  _ he was fake royalty.

He was just preparing to go back to bed when the realization hit him. Nastya had never actually answered his half joking question about being a better conversationalist than the Toy Soldier. That was a slight to his honor that just could not stand. He was a baron now! He was pretty sure that put him higher in the hierarchy then whatever the Toy Soldier was, even if Nastya probably outranked them both as a princess and as an engineer. 

Marius slowly turned around to face Nastya, who was leaning against the doorway on the other side of the room with a grin on her face. Letting out a shout of mock outrage, Marius began to chase after Nastya. He lost her in the ever changing halls almost immediately, but that was alright. 

Marius eventually went back to bed with a beaming smile on his face, and it stayed for a long time. 

**Author's Note:**

> just think Marius & Nastya should perhaps be friends!


End file.
